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Strategies & Market Trends : TATRADER GIZZARD STUDY--Stocks 12.00 or Less..... -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mike Sawyer who wrote (26286)	12/7/2001 1:06:46 AM
From: Paul A	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 59879

Mike- I usually average into all my positions with 2 or 3 buys/sells, but I always have a stop loss in unless I have so much flexability (say like shorting a volatile stock like NVDA) and I dont mind it going higher so I can add more.. but Mental stops for me just lead to temptation, and since I isolated my problem years ago (temper/emotion)I know I have to adhere to a pretty solid game plan or I start gambling : ) You can always adjust your stops at the start of each day.. thats usually what I do- because the idea of a stop is really a last resort.. I dont want to get stopped out unless its absolutely necessary/throw in the towel heh.. A few months ago I started an account with brokerageAmerica.com, and the market orders are absolutely free.. So far, I havnt had a single complaint and just about all my trades are market orders.. out of 100 trades I probably only used a limit order 5 times (cheap bum I am!) Hey- I spend 15-20k a year in commissions.. if I can save 50% of that? Call me cheap, but thats alot of pizza/calzones! Most liquid issues give you very fair fills for market orders.. God..I remember the days where Ameritrade would take 10 minutes to fill your order, and it was always at the worse possible price.. They did that and killed me for 6 months until I dumped them.. Now I use Ameritrade and never have that problem.. : ) but I definately think market orders are handled alot better today than even a year ago FWIW

To: Mike Sawyer who wrote (26286)	12/7/2001 5:00:44 AM
From: NW_Trader	Respond to of 59879

Hi Mike, Handling of stop orders depends on your broker and what they offer. Most online brokers do just what you suggest - if stop is triggered, order becomes a market order. There is also a stop limit order which is just as it's name implies - stop hit your order is entered as a limit order. This can be good or bad - fast sell off and you may not get filled as stock plummets (remember EMLX last Feb?). Then again, stop limit may keep you from getting shaken out on a drop that will be recovered from. I agree with Paul's reply to you - increasingly I find that (at least in the liquid stocks I'm now trading) market orders execute quickly and fairly so the added risk of a limit order (not getting filled as stock moves away by a penny or 2) is not worth it. Years ago when we traded by 1/8s and I was playing with less liquid stocks, limits were a way to protect oneself from being savaged, but that doesn't seem to be the case now (provided the spread isn't very great). Now I've gotten to where I think I can spot the sort of situation you describe, and will wait for the correction and reversal to put in my order. I too rarely set formal stops. I do develop a trade plan for each stock in trade that includes multiple entries (for swing trades) with one or more exit points, stop loss limits and profit targets that I adjust daily, and I study the daily trading pattern of my stable of stocks so when the .30 drop at 3:05 hits, I don't panic - just watch to be certain that it's not something more. The prerequisite for this to succeed, of course, is to be able to hit the sell button when your planned mental stop (loss or profit) is taken out and not to make excuses for staying in the trade. I know you know all this, but it always helps me to repeat to myself (or others) that I can always rebuy a stock I've sold if I've preserved trading capital to do so, however it does me no good to tie up dollars in a losing trade waiting for it to get back to break even. Fundamentally I had to realize that when I devise a trade plan, I expect certain things to happen (i.e., the stock will trade profitably for me) and if it doesn't, then I was wrong and have no business trying to prove I was right by sitting in the stock. 'Nuff said - I'll get off the soap box now. Good trading tomorrow. Peace and Justice --- Patrick